The Energon Pub

You know the sad thing is this is probably the first and last Con set I would have even considred ordering. Sadly I didn't have enough time or money to pick this one up. Now if I want it I have to deal with the eBay scalpers. Meaning i will have even less time and money to get it. Ah well, I will just keep my fond memories of the 05 Botcon and be done with it. On with the movie.

Dark_Magnus wrote:If Hasbro mass produced Thrust, he would likely have the same wings as Ramjet because Hasbro wouldn't want to pony up the cash for a remold of a figure that made it to clearance in large quantities (in my area at least).

That's sad. I want a Ramjet and haven't even seen one yet. If they are on clearance, maybe I can get them off eBay at regular price then.

Counterpunch wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:

Ultra Prime wrote:I find this tidbit of news rather interesting.

The defning outcry about it's expense was huge and yet the set is now sold out.
The bubbling anger of 3 out of the 6 popular seekers being in this set versus mass retail and yet the set is now sold out.
The huge cries of people saying I'm not going to throw away $300 on three seekers and yet this set is now sold out.

I wonder if anyone who spent their time being so angry are pissed for a different reason of now not being able to get the set. I guess in this case it's "you whine, you lose".

Was there really any doubt it would sell? There's no shortage of people out there eager to part with their money.
And why is it everytime someone complains, it's 'whining?'

Whining is ceaseless complaining in the face of largely overwhelming facts, most of which essentially have no chance of changing.

For example, complaining about the price of the toys inspite of the rational argument that small production runs cost more, is complaining.

I made my point about whining because from when the box sets were announced on through the first few figs that were previewed there were a fair amount of people that were Hasbro bashing and doing pointless complaining about the choice of the figures for the convention exclusive set.

Alot of these "complaints" people were making had no point or at least there was no valid point being made. I can accept some collectors and people not liking Hasbro. I'm sure Hasbro has done somethings and made some business decisions that hasn't made some collectors happy. But Hasbro is making Transformers that we still enjoy. Credit should be given where credit is due.

Besides, it's been said before but I'll say it again for the sake of argument. The decision of which figures to include in the box set was made before they announced the set to the public. So our outcry as fans was really rather pointless if you take that into consideration. No amount of valid complaining or whining was going to change the decision or convince Hasbro to make them available to mass retail.

So yes, after all of the whining and complaining, the box set still sold out. I guess alot of us fans and collectors just accepted what couldn't be changed and ponied up the moolah to complete our Classics seekers. Score for us!

Ultra Prime wrote:Besides, it's been said before but I'll say it again for the sake of argument. The decision of which figures to include in the box set was made before they announced the set to the public. So our outcry as fans was really rather pointless if you take that into consideration. No amount of valid complaining or whining was going to change the decision or convince Hasbro to make them available to mass retail.

So yes, after all of the whining and complaining, the box set still sold out. I guess alot of us fans and collectors just accepted what couldn't be changed and ponied up the moolah to complete our Classics seekers. Score for us!

A lot of my complaining had to do with the shortsightedness of using these characters in these molds as exclusives. I think that is perfectly valid. Now, before I get flamed with 'Hasbro was never gonna make these!', observe.
Last year at botcon, Hasbro said they might start Alternators up again after the movie. So there was a chance it would be continued. Right now, at tfw2005, Kickback, who has Hasbro sources, is flat out saying it's done, no chance. So, things changed over the course of a year. What once was possible, is now apparently not. Why couldn't the opposite happen? That's what galls me about people claiming it never would've happened. It's too soon to say that! Had Hasbro not given the go-ahead for these exclusives, there is no reason why somewhere down the road they couldn't have slipped Thrust into a later line. The RiD car bros. mold got reused. Armada bendy Prime. BM Blackarachnia. Whichever series had that hideous Sideswipe. There's no reason it couldn't have been done. Of course, now it can't. Maybe they'll release a Thrust mold at some point with a different paint scheme, so I can repaint it. I'll be doing that already with a Ramjet, but it would be nice to get the remolded wings.

MagnusPrimal wrote:

Ultra Prime wrote:Besides, it's been said before but I'll say it again for the sake of argument. The decision of which figures to include in the box set was made before they announced the set to the public. So our outcry as fans was really rather pointless if you take that into consideration. No amount of valid complaining or whining was going to change the decision or convince Hasbro to make them available to mass retail.

So yes, after all of the whining and complaining, the box set still sold out. I guess alot of us fans and collectors just accepted what couldn't be changed and ponied up the moolah to complete our Classics seekers. Score for us!

A lot of my complaining had to do with the shortsightedness of using these characters in these molds as exclusives. I think that is perfectly valid. Now, before I get flamed with 'Hasbro was never gonna make these!', observe.
Last year at botcon, Hasbro said they might start Alternators up again after the movie. So there was a chance it would be continued. Right now, at tfw2005, Kickback, who has Hasbro sources, is flat out saying it's done, no chance. So, things changed over the course of a year. What once was possible, is now apparently not. Why couldn't the opposite happen? That's what galls me about people claiming it never would've happened. It's too soon to say that! Had Hasbro not given the go-ahead for these exclusives, there is no reason why somewhere down the road they couldn't have slipped Thrust into a later line. The RiD car bros. mold got reused. Armada bendy Prime. BM Blackarachnia. Whichever series had that hideous Sideswipe. There's no reason it couldn't have been done. Of course, now it can't. Maybe they'll release a Thrust mold at some point with a different paint scheme, so I can repaint it. I'll be doing that already with a Ramjet, but it would be nice to get the remolded wings.

Quoted for Truth.

I agree with MagnusPrimal 100% on this one. Without Botcon, Hasbro would have released Thundercracker at the very least, if not in a new Classics assortment, then in another line. It may have taken two to three years, but he'd have seen the light of day. Hasbro loves repaints; all the Seekers would have made great filler for any line down the road.

I understand the decision to use the big names to get the publicity for the Botcon set, but if they had put the generic yellow, green and purple seekers in the set, wouldn't the Botcon collectors have been just as happy? Did they have to use iconic show characters? They made the decision, it's worked out for them (obviously) so this now gives them carte blanche to hijack any line and pull out any repaints that would give us G1 updates. I think it sets a bad precedent. From here on out, whenever a new mold gets previewed and the fandom goes 'Hey, that would make a great (insert G1 name)' there is much higher percentage that the repaint ends up a Botcon exclusive, rather than a retail release.

And as far as fans getting to 'score', I'd be willing to put money that a hefty number of those last 100-200 sets aren't going to fans at all, but went to any toy vendor in the country that could afford to sign up his mom, his brother, and his dog for Primus packages. This set was speculative gold from the announcement. Now, it's guaranteed.

Unless, of course, Botcon applies their 'will never be released in stores' clause literally, and represses the set to sell on the site directly...

I can't wait to see the other exclusives.

Asderiphel wrote:

Did they have to use iconic show characters? They made the decision, it's worked out for them (obviously) so this now gives them carte blanche to hijack any line and pull out any repaints that would give us G1 updates. I think it sets a bad precedent. From here on out, whenever a new mold gets previewed and the fandom goes 'Hey, that would make a great (insert G1 name)' there is much higher percentage that the repaint ends up a Botcon exclusive, rather than a retail release.

Crap. I never thought of that.
Thanks for the support, and I agree about the last 100 or so sets, and the toy vendors (and probably ebayers, as well). Actually, the number is probably much higher than that.

I for one would be ok with throwin 'em an extra 20, 30 bucks, having them make more, and getting them shipped to me later (hence the extra $), even if it were two months after the 'con would be fine.

I got one on order, still not sure if I really want it though. It's my first Botcon set I've ever bought.

MagnusPrimal wrote:
Crap. I never thought of that.
Thanks for the support, and I agree about the last 100 or so sets, and the toy vendors (and probably ebayers, as well). Actually, the number is probably much higher than that.

No problem. I figure all of us 'whiners' should stick together.


Yeah, I think 100 is a low estimate, and it's probably closer to a full 25-35% of the run is being purchased solely to resell.

GetterDragun wrote:I can't wait to see the other exclusives.

Yea...I'm with ya there.

It'll be a refreshing break from beating this horse, who has been dead for like 2 or 3 weeks now.

So, what do you think, Alpha Trion, or Springer & Elita-1 for the souvenier figures?

I have a feeling it'll be the 2 delux figures. Alpha Trion is just a very likely Club Exclusive.

Counterpunch wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:I can't wait to see the other exclusives.

Yea...I'm with ya there.

It'll be a refreshing break from beating this horse, who has been dead for like 2 or 3 weeks now.

So, what do you think, Alpha Trion, or Springer & Elita-1 for the souvenier figures?

I have a feeling it'll be the 2 delux figures. Alpha Trion is just a very likely Club Exclusive.

I can't afford to go to Botcon and could only afford to get the Iacon package myself. So whatever the attending convention exclusives are I'm sure I'll be very jealous.